Getting Renewable Energy into Your Home

The benefits of using renewable energy sources are now widely known and appreciated, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s straightforward to use them in your...
The post Getting Renewable Energy into Your Home appeared first on My Green Home Blog .

The benefits of using renewable energy sources are now widely known and appreciated, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s straightforward to use them in your own home. Energy providers can be difficult to understand as it is, so when you throw in alternatives, things can become very confusing. There are however several ways in which you can maximise the proportion of renewables you’re using.

Solar

Solar panels are one if not the very best ways of getting free, environmentally friendly energy into your home. The initial cost of having them installed on your roof is indeed high, but once they’re there, they should last between 15 and 20 years. In some places, you can even charge excess energy back to the power grid, making this a real investment. It’s also worth noting that solar panels are useful even if you have a lot of cloud cover. You can also save some money initially by installing yourself if you’re qualified – kits are available from Critical Power Supplies.

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are a fantastic invention that provide your home with heating using either the ground or air outside. They do require a small amount of electricity to operate, but they make up for this by using a larger amount of renewable energy than you would otherwise. It’s important to note that they work at their best when the house they’re being used with is well insulated, or the heat will simply escape, and they’ll struggle to work. You’ll need a small amount of space outside your home to install one of these units, but most properties should be fine, especially as air powered heat pumps can be mounted on a bracket on a wall. The UK’s Energy Saving Trust has more information.

Wind Turbines

Small roof mounted wind turbines are available for just a few thousand, and they perform in much the same way as the huge industrial sized ones. Wind is of course completely free, and readily available in many places, so this is a fantastic way of generating electricity. As with solar panels, turbines are designed to last a couple of decades. They do need a small amount of electricity to run, but if you want to be off-grid, they can be maintained with a battery that will last several years of use. Combine a turbine with a solar panel, and there should rarely be any weather that means you aren’t producing some form of renewable energy.